In recent years, people, in particular, young people have a preference for cosmetics which make the skin moist and soft and impart a refreshing feeling upon use. This tendency affects not only skin-care products but body-care products and makeup products.
To achieve the above-described feeling upon use, these products generally contain carboxyvinyl polymer as a thickener and stabilizer. However, in the case of products containing compounds which are liable to ionize (for example, ascorbic acid, magnesium phosphate, arginine hydrochloride) or makeup products containing pigments, the thickening effect of carboxyvinyl polymer is seriously inhibited by the ionizable compounds or the pigments. As a result, there arise some problems such as a decrease in viscosity, separation or sedimentation during storage, which makes these products disadvantageous in the long-term stability.
To solve these problems, thickeners such as xanthan gum and hydroxyethylcellulose are employed in some cases. Although a satisfactory long-term stability can be achieved by using these thickeners, there arises another problem of a slimy or sticky feel.
Under these circumstances, the existing products are not much different from each other in the feeling upon use and in the form and, therefore, not always satisfy the diversified requirements by consumers.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a composition for external use (e.g., cosmetics, etc.) which can impart a novel feeling upon use to thereby satisfy the diversified requirements by consumers and has a good long-term stability.